In this January bulletin our IP team keep you au fait with the top IP stories.
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Intellectual Property Update - January 2019
Tom Lingard 
Charlotte TillettContents
- Sampling - parasitic behaviour or human right?
- Lyrica - Supreme Court judgment raises the bar on repurposing
- No monopoly on taste - Court of Justice says no to copyright in cheese
- Trade marks - the colour purple
- Trade marks: national protection, global online infringement
- Brexit
- Brexit Summit
- Employee competition and data theft seminar
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On 12 December 2018, Advocate General Szpunar (AG) advised that unlicensed sampling - however small - should be regarded as an infringement of the copyright in a sound recording. This will be welcomed by copyright owners, but does it go too far in... Read more
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Finding new uses for existing medicines is an important area of pharmaceutical research which boasts many success stories. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Lyrica case relating to the use of pregabalin for pain is, however, disappointing news... Read more
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The CJEU has ruled that copyright cannot subsist in the taste of a food product. The ruling has implications not only for the food industry but also for the perfume houses. Taste-alikes This was a reference from the Netherlands arising out of a... Read more
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In a further blow to Cadbury’s hopes of saving its colour purple trade mark in the UK, the Court of Appeal has rejected Cadbury’s attempt to amend the registration to try to preserve its validity. Consequently, the mark is now potentially... Read more
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National protection, global online infringement The protection provided by a registered trade mark is limited to preventing infringing use in the country (or countries) of registration. A recent High Court case involving the EASYJET trade mark... Read more
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Brexit
As the uncertainty about what form Brexit will takes continues, we have prepared a Brexit survival guide , which is intended as a relatively short run through of the issues across all areas. This also includes a summary of key intellectual property issues. For a more detailed discussion of the intellectual property position, please see our intellectual property Brexit checklist. If you would like further information about any of the issues raised, do please contact Tom Lingard or Charlotte Tillett.
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Brexit Summit
Our ‘summit’ will look at the legal risks and challenges faced by businesses arising from Brexit and how best to mitigate them. The event will include keynote presentations on the latest Brexit developments, immigration issues and commercial roundtable discussions on key topics to help share knowledge on risks and how to deal with them. Learn more
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Employee competition and data theft seminar
Date: 31 January 2019
Location: London
January is the most popular month for executives to jump ship for a competitor – is your business and its data safe from the enemy within? Our Employee Competition, IP and Data Protection experts will offer practical guidance on how best to protect your business and deal with the immediate aftermath of an employee exit. Learn more